Black Pepper Buttermilk Biscuits

I have been making these biscuits for years now and I never get tired of seeing the look on someone's face after they have eaten one of these fresh out of the oven for the first time. I was at a family gathering for my husband a few years ago and I made these. It was interesting to see how the older generation ate them...they just wanted 1 biscuit on a plate split crosswise with a large dab of butter in between. And they didn't eat them with their hands, instead they used a fork and ate it delicately as if it were a piece of cake. Meanwhile I was used to my husband and I eating them with bacon and eggs. I received many compliments for the biscuits, the main one being that "they hadn't had a biscuit like that since they were a child". That was enough for me to call these biscuits spectacular. Makes about 10-12 biscuits4 cups of flour4 teaspoons of baking powder1 teaspoon of baking soda1 teaspoon of salt2 sticks of cold butterAbout 1 & 1/2 cups of buttermilkBlack pepper

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. In a large bowl add in the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir it together with a fork.

One of the keys to great biscuits is cold butter so make sure the butter is right out of the fridge. Cut the butter into 1/2 inch cubes and add them into the flour mixture.

You can use a pastry cutter but I don't have one so I am using my fingertips to break up the butter into the flour. Break up all of the butter pieces until small pea size flour butter balls begin to form.

A 1/4 cup at a time add in the buttermilk mixing the dough gently with your hands. You just want to add in enough buttermilk until the dough begins to come together but is NOT too wet or drenched. So you may not need to use all of the buttermilk.

Place the dough on a floured surface. If the dough is sticky throw a few sprinkles of flour on top and rub your hands with flour so that you can handle the dough. Gather the dough together and flatten it a little.

Fold the dough towards you and press it down again flattening it to about a 3/4 of an inch.

My biscuit cutter is actually just one of my drinking glasses so you can use yours too. Press down, twist and lift up the glass. Perfect. Gather the leftover dough and repeat the process.

Place the biscuits on a non-greased baking sheet. There is plenty of butter in the biscuits so they won't stick. Take about a 1/2 teaspoon of buttermilk and place them on top of each biscuit swirling it around to cover it.

And now for the black pepper. Just a sprinkle on each biscuit. Fresh cracked black pepper is also great too. Place the biscuits in a 400 degree oven for about 15 minutes or until the bottoms begin to brown.

They are done.

I have learned to appreciate splitting the biscuit crosswise. They are soft and very fluffy in the center.

Butter in between is good, and strawberry jam is better but I like mine with orange marmalade...yum!